MACR calls for adoption of regulatory guidelines for hostels

Pothashang News Service: Imphal, July 20, 2019: Manipur Alliance for Child Rights (MACR) has appealed the authority to notify the NCPCR draft regulatory guidelines to enforce in the state at the earliest.

MACR considers the absence of comprehensive regulatory guidelines is the main cause of frequent cases of suicide, sexual and physical assaults amongst students, said a press statement released by MACR on Saturday.

Seeing the serious consequences of unregulated hostels, MACR called for adopting a regulatory guidelines for the educational hostels and boarding in the state since early 2014, it added.

For taking up necessary action, MACR submitted application to Manipur Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MCPCR) which is the monitoring authority of RTE Act, to develop a draft guideline when the rights body was headed by A. Nabachandra Singh. MACR has been continuously advocating with various forums such as NCPCR and UNICEF to develop such a policy document, MACR release said.

Ultimately, NCPCR developed a “Regulatory Guidelines for Hostels of Educational Institutions for Children” in the year 2018. Among others, The Guidelines mandated for mandatory “Registration of all the hostels, prescribed a staffing pattern, minimum Norms and Standard, Monitoring & Redressal of Grievances etc, it added.

As per the guidelines the Head of District education is the competent authority for registration, while District Magistrate /district collector shall constitute monitoring committee for periodic and regular shall constitute a monitoring committee for periodic inspections of the hostels.  A hostel must have Superintendent, warden, counselor, security guard, nurse, sweeper, cleaner, helper, cook, kitchen staff, clerk, office assistants etc, it said.

The suggested norms for building  or accommodation in each institution with 50 children   are  2 dormitories ( Each 1000 Sq. ft. for 25 children i.e. 2000 Sq. ft.) , 2 study rooms (300 sq. ft. for 25 children i.e. 600 Sq. ft.),  sickroom (75 sq. ft.), dining hall ( minimum 500 Sq. ft.),  recreation room ( 300 Sq. ft.), library (500 sq.ft.) , 5 bathrooms ( 25 Sq.ft. each ), 8 ( 25 Sq.ft.) toilets (25 Sq. ft.), Counseling and Guidance room (120 sq. ft.) etc, it added.

“Unfortunately, the regulatory guidelines drafted by NCPCR is yet to be notified by the state authority, despite the fact that the state is witnessing lot of child rights violation cases, including sexual assaults , suicides, physical assaults cases now and then”, MACR said.

“In this juncture, MACR appeal the concerned authority to notify the NCPCR draft regulatory Guidelines to be enforceable in the state at the earliest,” it added.

All the existing so called hostels, boarding need to follow the prescribed Infrastructural safety, cyber safety, water safety, social and emotional safety, apart from ensuring protection against sexual abuse, facilities for trauma management etc., otherwise these unregistered institutions will remain ever as unsafe and vulnerable places for the innocent children, the state said.